Web3 Wiki

Address Address A string of characters, like an account number, used to send and receive assets on a blockchain. Basics → AI Agent AI Agents Software that uses an AI model to act on its own — in crypto, often holding a wallet and transacting on-chain. Applications → Airdrop Airdrop A free distribution of tokens to wallets, usually to reward early users or bootstrap a community. Assets → Altcoin Altcoin Any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin. Assets → AML Anti-Money Laundering Anti-Money Laundering — laws and procedures meant to stop criminal proceeds entering the financial system. Safety → AMM Automated Market Maker Automated Market Maker — a formula-driven pool that quotes prices instead of matching buyers with sellers. Applications → APY / APR Annualized yield Annualised return; APR ignores compounding, while APY includes it. Market signals → Bear Market Bear Market A prolonged period of falling prices and pessimism. Market signals → Bitcoin (BTC) Bitcoin The first cryptocurrency, launched in 2009. Fixed supply of 21 million, often described as "digital gold" and used as the market's benchmark asset. Assets → Bitcoin Dominance Bitcoin Dominance Bitcoin's share of the total cryptocurrency market capitalisation. Market signals → Block Explorer Block explorer A website for looking up transactions, addresses and contracts on a blockchain, such as Etherscan. Basics → Blockchain Blockchain A shared, append-only ledger maintained by many computers. Once recorded, entries are practically impossible to alter, which is what makes on-chain assets trustworthy without a central operator. Basics → Bull Market Bull Market A sustained period of rising prices and optimism. Market signals → CBDC Central Bank Digital Currency Central Bank Digital Currency — a digital form of a national currency issued by the central bank. Assets → CEX Centralized Exchange A centralised exchange run by a company that holds customers' assets and matches their orders. Applications → Circulating Supply Circulating Supply The number of tokens currently available to trade, excluding locked or unissued ones. Market signals → Cold Wallet Cold Wallet A wallet whose keys never touch the internet, typically a hardware device. Safety → Consensus Mechanism Consensus Mechanism The rules by which thousands of independent computers agree on which transactions are valid and in what order. Basics → Cross-chain Bridge Cross-chain bridge A protocol that moves assets between blockchains, usually by locking them on one chain and issuing an equivalent on another. Basics → DAO Decentralized Autonomous Organization Decentralized Autonomous Organization — a community that coordinates through on-chain voting, with rules and treasury enforced by smart contracts. Applications → DApp Decentralized Application An application whose core logic runs in smart contracts rather than on a company's servers. Applications → DeFi Decentralized Finance Decentralized Finance — lending, trading and yield products built from smart contracts, open to anyone with a wallet, no bank account required. Applications → Depeg Depeg When a stablecoin or pegged asset trades away from the value it is meant to track. Market signals → DePIN Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks that use token rewards to get individuals to deploy real-world hardware such as wireless hotspots, storage or GPUs. Applications → DEX Decentralized Exchange A decentralised exchange where users trade directly from their own wallets through smart contracts. Applications → DYOR Do Your Own Research Do Your Own Research — a reminder that no post, influencer or headline is a substitute for checking the facts yourself. Safety → ERC-20 ERC-20 Standard The standard interface for fungible tokens on Ethereum and EVM-compatible chains. Assets → Ethereum (ETH) Ethereum The largest smart-contract platform. Developers deploy programs (contracts) that run exactly as written, powering DeFi, NFTs and most token issuance. Basics → EVM Ethereum Virtual Machine The Ethereum Virtual Machine — the runtime that executes smart contracts on Ethereum and on compatible chains. Basics → Exploit Exploit Attack An attack that abuses a flaw in a smart contract or its surrounding systems to take funds. Safety → FDV Fully Diluted Valuation Fully Diluted Valuation — the price multiplied by the maximum supply, as if every token already existed. Market signals → Fear & Greed Index Fear and Greed Index A 0–100 sentiment gauge for crypto markets. Low readings signal fear (potential oversold), high readings signal greed (potential overheating). Market signals → Fiat Fiat currency Government-issued currency such as the US dollar, euro or renminbi. Assets → FOMO FOMO Fear Of Missing Out — the urge to buy because the price is rising and others seem to be profiting. Safety → Fork Fork A change to a blockchain's rules; a hard fork is incompatible with old software and can split the chain in two. Basics → FUD Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt — negative claims, true or not, that push people to sell. Safety → Funding Rate Funding Rate A periodic payment between long and short holders of perpetual contracts that keeps the contract price near spot. Market signals → GameFi Blockchain Games Games that put items and currencies on-chain so players can own and trade them. Applications → Gas Fee Fees / Gas Fees The fee paid to a blockchain's validators for processing your transaction. Varies with network congestion — high demand means higher gas. Basics → Governance Token Governance Token A token that gives holders votes on a protocol's parameters, upgrades and treasury. Assets → Halving Halving The scheduled 50% cut in the bitcoin reward paid to miners, occurring roughly every four years. Assets → Hash Hash A fixed-length fingerprint computed from any piece of data; change one character of the input and the fingerprint changes completely. Basics → Hashrate Hashrate The total computing power miners are devoting to a Proof of Work network. Market signals → Honeypot Honeypot A token whose contract lets you buy but prevents you from selling. Safety → Hot Wallet Hot Wallet A wallet whose keys live on an internet-connected device, such as a browser extension or phone app. Safety → ICO Initial Coin Offering Initial Coin Offering — selling newly created tokens to the public to fund a project. Assets → IDO Decentralized Initial Offering Initial DEX Offering — a token sale conducted through a decentralised exchange or launchpad. Assets → Impermanent Loss Impermanent Loss The shortfall a liquidity provider suffers, compared with simply holding the tokens, when their relative prices change. Applications → Inscription Inscriptions Data such as text or images written directly into individual satoshis on Bitcoin, the basis of Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens. Applications → KYC Identity Verification Know Your Customer — identity checks that exchanges and financial firms must run on users. Safety → Launchpad Launchpad A platform that hosts token sales for new projects, often giving allocations to holders of the platform's own token. Applications → Layer 1 Public chain / Layer 1 network A base blockchain that settles transactions on its own, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum or Solana. Basics → Layer 2 L2 / rollup Networks built on top of a base chain (like Ethereum) that batch transactions to cut fees and boost speed while inheriting the base chain's security. Basics → Lending Protocol Lending Protocol A DeFi application where users deposit assets to earn interest and others borrow against collateral. Applications → Leverage Leverage Trading with borrowed funds to control a larger position than your own capital allows. Market signals → Liquid Staking Liquid Staking Staking through a protocol that hands back a tradable receipt token, so the staked value stays usable. Applications → Liquidation Liquidation / Forced Liquidation The forced closing of a leveraged position or sale of loan collateral when its value falls below the required margin. Market signals → Liquidity Liquidity How easily an asset can be bought or sold without moving its price. Market signals → Liquidity Pool Liquidity Pool A pot of tokens deposited by users that a DEX or lending protocol trades or lends against. Applications → Mainnet Mainnet The live blockchain where real assets move, as opposed to a test network used for trials. Basics → Market Cap Market Cap Circulating supply multiplied by the current price — the standard measure of an asset's size. Market signals → Meme Coin Meme Coin A token whose value comes mainly from internet culture and community attention rather than cash flows or utility. Assets → Metaverse Metaverse Persistent shared virtual worlds; in crypto, usually ones where land and items are owned as tokens. Applications → MEV Maximal Extractable Value Profit that block producers or bots capture by choosing the order of transactions in a block. Applications → Mining Mining Using computing power to compete for the right to add a block to a Proof of Work chain, in exchange for newly issued coins and fees. Basics → Multisig Multisig A wallet that needs several keys to approve a transaction, for example any two of three. Safety → NFT Non-Fungible Token Non-Fungible Token — a unique on-chain certificate of ownership for digital (or physical) items: art, collectibles, tickets, domain names. Assets → Node Node A computer running a blockchain's software that stores the ledger and relays and verifies transactions. Basics → Open Interest Open Interest The total value of derivative contracts that are currently open. Market signals → Oracle Oracle A service that feeds outside data, such as prices, into smart contracts. Basics → Perpetual Contract Perpetual Contracts A futures contract with no expiry date, kept close to the spot price by periodic funding payments. Applications → Phishing Phishing attack Tricking someone into revealing keys or signing a malicious transaction, usually through a fake website or message. Safety → Private Key Private Key The secret number that proves ownership of an address; whoever holds it controls the funds. Safety → Proof of Stake (PoS) Proof of Stake A consensus design in which validators lock up tokens as collateral for the right to add blocks; Ethereum has used it since 2022. Basics → Proof of Work (PoW) Proof of Work A consensus design in which miners compete with computing power to add blocks; Bitcoin is the best-known example. Basics → Public Key Public Key The counterpart of a private key that can be shared freely; addresses are derived from it. Basics → Restaking Restaking Reusing already-staked assets to secure additional services in exchange for extra rewards. Applications → Rollup Rollup A Layer 2 design that executes transactions off the main chain and posts compressed data back to it. Basics → Rug Pull Rug Pull When a project's creators drain the liquidity or sell their holdings and abandon it, leaving the token worthless. Safety → RWA Real-World Assets Real-World Assets — treasuries, credit, real estate and other traditional assets issued as on-chain tokens, connecting TradFi yields with DeFi rails. Assets → Seed Phrase Recovery phrase The 12/24-word master key to a wallet. Whoever holds it controls the assets; lose it and nobody can recover it. Store offline, never share. Safety → Self-custody Self-custody Holding your own private keys instead of leaving assets with an exchange or other custodian. Safety → Signature Signature Cryptographic approval produced with your private key; signing is how you authorise anything on-chain. Safety → Slippage Slippage The difference between the price you expected and the price your trade actually executed at. Market signals → Smart Contract Smart Contract Code deployed on a blockchain that executes automatically when conditions are met — no intermediary needed. The building block of DeFi. Basics → Smart Contract Audit Smart Contract Audit A review of a project's code by an outside security firm looking for vulnerabilities. Safety → SocialFi Social Finance Social apps that attach tradable tokens or on-chain ownership to profiles, content or followings. Applications → Spot ETF Spot ETF An exchange-traded fund that holds the underlying crypto asset, letting investors buy exposure through a brokerage account. Assets → Stablecoin Stablecoins A token pegged to a stable asset, usually the US dollar (USDT, USDC). The cash leg of crypto trading and an increasingly important payment rail. Assets → Staking Staking Locking tokens to help secure a Proof of Stake network, or depositing them in a protocol, in return for rewards. Applications → Testnet Testnet A copy of a blockchain used for testing, whose tokens have no monetary value. Basics → TGE Token Generation Event Token Generation Event — the moment a project's token is created and first distributed. Assets → Token Token A digital asset issued through a smart contract on an existing blockchain. Assets → Token Approval Token Approval Permission you grant a smart contract to move a specific token from your wallet. Safety → Token Burn Token Burn Permanently removing tokens from circulation, usually by sending them to an address nobody controls. Assets → Token Unlock Vesting unlock The scheduled release of previously locked tokens (team, investors, ecosystem funds) into circulation — large unlocks can pressure price. Market signals → Tokenomics Tokenomics The design of a token's supply, distribution and incentives. Assets → TPS Transactions per second Transactions per second — a rough measure of how much activity a blockchain can process. Basics → Trading Volume Volume The total value traded over a period, usually 24 hours. Market signals → TVL Total Value Locked Total Value Locked — the dollar value of assets deposited in a DeFi protocol or chain. Market signals → Validator Validator A node in a Proof of Stake network that has staked tokens and takes turns proposing and attesting to blocks. Basics → Volatility Volatility How much and how quickly a price moves. Market signals → Wallet Wallet Software or hardware that stores the private keys controlling your on-chain assets and signs transactions with them. Basics → Wash Trading Wash trading Trading with oneself to create a false impression of activity. Market signals → Web3 Web3 A vision of the internet where users hold their own accounts, assets and data through blockchains instead of renting them from platforms. Basics → Whale Whale A holder with enough of an asset to move its price by trading. Market signals → Whitepaper White Paper The document in which a project sets out the problem it addresses, its design and its token model. Basics → Wrapped Token Wrapped Token A token that represents an asset from another chain, backed one-to-one by the original held in reserve. Assets → Yield Farming Liquidity Mining Moving assets between DeFi protocols to earn the best combination of fees and reward tokens. Applications → Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZK) Zero-Knowledge Proof A cryptographic method for proving a statement is true without revealing the underlying information. Basics →